The present invention relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to a method of determining the position of a wireless communications mobile terminal operating in a packet-switched communications system.
A number of methods have been proposed for determining the position of a wireless communications mobile terminal (e.g., cell phone). One common method is to rely on a separate satellite-based system, such as GPS, typically by incorporating a GPS positioning receiver into the mobile terminal. However, the GPS receiver consumes power, adds complexity, and adds cost to the mobile terminal. Other methods, such as that described in WO-9956493 and WO-9815150, may function for circuit switched communications systems, but do not work well for packet-switched communications systems. Still other methods, such as that described in WO-0030393, rely on a time of arrival approach, which requires that additional location measurement units (LMUs) be deployed in the communications system, with attendant costs. As such, there remains a need for new methods of determining the position of a wireless communications mobile terminal operating in a packet-switched communications system.